Lifeboat Decision-Revised Writing Assignment#1

The Case of the Overcrowded Lifeboat was about a 40-foot yacht sailing from Long Beach to Hawaii, along with 40 passengers, one captain, and his crew. Everything was going well in the beginning, until they encountered a severe storm out of nowhere that was too strong for them to handle. The smashing waves damaged the the yacht to the point where they were unable to contact anyone for help because it knocked out the radio for it to work. As the severe storm continued, the yacht began to sink killing the captain and the majority of the passengers instantly. The remainder of the passengers and crew were in the lifeboat searching for the rest of the survivors. As they found the passengers floating in the water, the first mate had to make a difficult decision of who was going to saved from the freezing water. The first mate refused the five passengers from entering into the lifeboat, fearing that it would add too much weight to the boat and they unfortunately passed away. Among the five passengers was a woman who was three months pregnant at the time. She must have been a very young woman on that yacht when it sunk into the sea. After rowing in the freezing sea for three days, they were discovered by a commercial fishing boat and returned safely to shore. When the Coast Guard came along to find out what happened, they took the first mate and the two surviving crew members into custody for the murders of the five passengers who could have been saved by the crew members. The Coast Guard who took the surviving crew members into custody sent them to the civil authorities so they can be indicted in state court to be charged with six counts of murder. This could be considered an unusual case because of the nature of the case and the defendants made a decision to waive their rights to have a jury trial. I believe the reason why they chose to waive their rights because they had a difficult decision to make and felt that it was the right thing to do.